Free Buddy
A film about politics that is actually 'fair and balanced'

Long-serving mayor. Ex-Providence Mayor Vincent A. 'Buddy' Cianci Jr. enjoys the fruits of the city's renaissance he engineered in Waterplace Park in this January 1997 photo. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY CIANCI ARCHIVES


BUDDY
A Big Orange Films Production
Produced, written and directed by Cherry Arnold
86 min.
Fri., 6-9, 4:30 p.m. Jane Pickens
Sat., 6-10, 1 p.m., Newport Art Museum

BY JENN SUTKOWSKI

Filmmaker Cherry Arnold grew up three doors down from ex-Providence Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci Jr. But she knows a universal story when she sees one, and tells it with humor and focus in the award-winning documentary film "Buddy," narrated by James Woods.

Those who only know Buddy Cianci as the name of the junior high school in "Family Guy" might question the entertainment potential of a film chronicling a politician's rise to power and imminent demise. It quickly becomes clear, though, in the viewing of "Buddy," that Arnold's keen artistic and journalistic instincts coupled with Cianci's lightning-quick wit and tendency to attract a scandal create a film that is riveting, educational and funny.

Most Rhode Islanders either love or hate Cianci. The response Arnold has gotten to the film, however, speaks to her ability to keep neutral, an all-important tenet of great (and real) documentary filmmaking. She does not give viewers a comfortably judgmental place to stand and was surprised they took it so well.

"I was really braced to have the extreme ends of both sides - the people that love him, the people that hate him - trash the film for their various reasons, but even those people actually liked the movie," Arnold said.

Those who don't know Cianci will find this a classic story, but distinct because he has always been so unmistakably and singularly himself. Even though Cianci dismisses the notion that he resembles a Shakespearean figure, the viewer senses the parallel. Shakespeare resonated with Arnold in college and it shows in the film, though never ham-fistedly. She demonstrates that there is more to Cianci's story than the falling of a figure of national myth or the decay of the body politic.

"It's also this universal story where everyone's flawed to a certain degree and people really love to see someone down and then come back," Arnold explained. "In a lot of ways he's sort of the proverbial underdog."

The rising underdog theme is always interesting to watch and vindicating. "Buddy" exhibits it very well. It shows a man who slapped Providence's inferiority complex into a renaissance, a man who sheared "the Armpit of New England," and didn't just spritz perfume on the spot. He made it happen like a warlock: art museums, a new convention center, restaurants - which he rattles off onscreen with ardor and alacrity, illustrating his deep love for this city he had "as his mistress," as one commentator notes.

Perhaps the magic Buddy seemed to wield is what made the FBI investigate him in the first place, leading to his April 2001 indictment on federal criminal charges of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, witness tampering and mail fraud. (Cianci was convicted of a single count of conspiracy and is serving a five-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, N.J. He is scheduled for release in December 2007.)

Perhaps it was Providence's notorious and lengthy pas-de-deux with machine politics. Perhaps the feds were out to get him. Arnold subtly shows the irony of Cianci's extremes, down to his 1974 campaign, pinning him as "The Anti-Corruption Candidate."

This was a difficult film to make, even after Arnold finally convinced Cianci to agree to let her follow him during his last year as mayor. Arnold said she was eventually "the last man standing" of the press: "He got really burned by Time Magazine. He thought they were doing some great article in the middle of the trial. I was like, 'Oh my God, how could you be so dumb?' And sure enough they just lampoon him like every other national media entity that was covering him during the trial."

Various factors must have prompted Cianci to allow in Arnold, and no one else, and it is lucky for viewers. She was probably a calming presence among the craziness. An on-again off-again yoga instructor, Arnold was sure to refuel her energy during the film, which may explain why "Buddy" constantly keeps its focus and the viewer's interest.

"Just to be able to leave the office and go connect with a group of people was so great, it was so helpful," Arnold said of her yoga instruction. "It just gave me so much energy, because I was just alone in this office for three years, except working with my editors. It's tough to spend that much time by yourself, doing battle with this movie."

Damn glad she did.

This story originally appeared in Mercury on Oct. 19, 2005.